Australian consumers have been actively using their cards - both debit and credit - with July 2018 racking up more spending than June 2018 and July 2017. Nevertheless the trend towards use of debit cards marches on, as does the repayment of card debt. Analysis of Reserve Bank of Australia credit and charge card data for July 2018 by MWE Consulting indicates that card spend showed signs of a return to life with the July 2018 result exceeding July 2017 by 7.6 per cent and a month-on-month lift in turnover that was well ahead of the previous three years.In raw numbers, credit and charge card balances declined by A$990 million from June 2018 to $51.7 billion in July 2018, which was 0.6 per cent above the level of a year ago. This highlights another trend that has implications for long-term profitability of cards: balances accruing interest decreased by $559 million from June 2018 to $32.6 billion in July 2018, although this remained 3.6 per cent above the level of July 2017.An average credit and charge card account had a lower balance of $3,224; a lower credit limit of $9,482; and a higher annual spend of $20,153.This was despite an increase in use over the month of July.  MWE, in its Australian Payment Cards Report for July 2018, observed that credit and charge card spend increased by just over $1 billion from the June 2018 figures. However, as Mike Ebstein from MWE Consulting observed, there has scarcely been an interruption in the rate at which the composition of purchases is altering towards debit. The rate of growth of value of purchases on debit is three and a half times that for credit and charge, and the annualised repayment rate remains unchanged at its peak of 105.2 per cent."Five years ago, debit accounted for a 41.5 per cent share of the market but this has now increased to 47.6 per cent. Given a continuation of the present trends, we can expect to see debit pass the 50 per cent share threshold towards the latter stages of 2019," he said.Another trend that MWE Consulting observed is in the area of 'card not present' fraud, which is being felt most acutely on Australian issued scheme cards within Australia. "There has been a 130 per cent increase over the last three years compared to a 24 per cent increase in card not present fraud on locally issued scheme cards used offshore," Ebstein reported.